The present disclosure relates to the field of computing, and in particular to methods and apparatus for analyzing and/or filtering any data stream of trace data or image data that is characterized by Gaussian noise. The present disclosure also relates to determining a background component in a signal and producing a signal quantification value representing the true signal with the background component removed. The present disclosure further relates to setting display settings of a display device for displaying the data stream. Examples of data streams include data streams with data representing still images, video, and other one-dimensional, two-dimensional, three-dimensional, four-dimensional, and higher-dimensional data sets.
Most display devices have a limited display range. For example, a display device may be an 8-bit display that allows images to be displayed having an intensity range of 0 to 255. Setting display settings of the display device includes setting a display range for the display device. One conventional approach to setting the display range includes identifying the minimum (MIN) and maximum (MAX) intensity values and scaling the range of the MIN and MAX to fit within the dynamic range of the display device.
However, the conventional approach to setting the display range suffers from certain drawbacks. For a data set that has a very strong signal (relative to the noise), then it is possible that just the strong signal is visible so that weaker signals and/or noise are not visible or barely visible. For a data set that has no signal or weak signals (relative to the noise), then the fine grain of the noise would be exaggerated, resulting in a low quality image.
Traditional image filters reduce noise but distort the image, thereby degrading the integrity of the image. The degradation is more severe in images that have a high dynamic range.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for enhancing image quality and reducing or removing background noise and also for a technique for setting the display settings of a display device that overcomes the drawbacks and limitations of conventional approaches.